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Following a Bolzano visit during my 14-day/13-night Italy trip in 2014 (Oct. ’14, pg. 16), I spent six days around and in Venice, in the Veneto region. Because I had a 6:45 a.m. flight out on my last day, I looked for a place to stay near the airport for the five nights, May 10-15.
Prague is truly a city for walking. My husband and I went there for the first time in June 2014. We chose one hotel as a base from which to do some genealogical research and travel around the countryside.
We decided on Residence Agnes (Haštalská 943/19, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic; phone +420 222 312 417, fax 312 840, www.residenceagnes.cz).
My husband, Ed, and I spent four days in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in April 2013 (May ’14, pg. 14). Our final full day there was special.
On its website, we learned about a tour at the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Centre for Cultural Understanding, or SMCCU (www.cultures.ae). We made reservations via email (smccu@cultures.ae) for the 90-minute “Heritage Tour,” which cost AED55 (near $15).
For our third trip to Svalbard, the Arctic archipelago northwest of mainland Norway, my wife, Gwen, and I chose to travel on Quark Expeditions’ (Waterbury, VT; 888/332-0008, www.quarkexpeditions.com) all-suite, 120-passenger Sea Spirit. The ship is the old “Spirit of Oceanus” of the former line Cruise West.
Excluding airfare but counting a 5% discount for being past customers, the cost for our 10-night, 11-day cruise, June 14-24, 2013, was approximately $20,000 for the two of us.
Despite lifelong interests in wildlife, my wife and I had never been to Africa. After looking through a variety of safari brochures, we found it was easy to become overwhelmed by the many travel options.
epartment had travel warnings on 38 destinations: Afghanistan, Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, El Salvador, Eritrea, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Israel/West Bank/Gaza, Kenya, North Korea, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Republic of South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen.
On Thorong La Pass, part of the Annapurna Circuit trail in a section of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal, at least 41 people died from exposure when an unseasonable and sudden blizzard dropped over 5½ feet of snow on the pass in less than 12 hours on Oct. 14. Nearly 400 hikers became stranded.
The Nepalese Army rescued hundreds of the hikers, many suffering from frostbite or injured with broken bones, before the effort was halted on Oct. 19 due to worsening weather. At press time, recovery efforts were ongoing, with the number of hikers still missing not known.
American Jeffrey Fowle, imprisoned in North Korea since early June 2014, was released on Oct. 21. Fowle had been arrested for “anti-state” crimes as he tried to leave the country. He is reported to have left a Bible in a restaurant or hotel room. Attempting to spread religion is a crime in North Korea.
American Kenneth Bae, currently serving 15 years of hard labor in North Korea, was arrested in 2013 for crimes against the state while working as a Christian missionary.
North and South Korean militaries exchanged fire three times in October. In the first incident, ships from both countries fired warning shots after a North Korean vessel crossed a disputed maritime border.
On Oct. 10, North Korean soldiers fired at helium balloons carrying propaganda being sent across the border by South Korean activists.
On Oct. 19, South Korean soldiers fired at North Korean soldiers encroaching on the demilitarized zone, prompting the North Korean soldiers to return fire.
Somali and African Union (AU) forces retook the coastal city of Barawa, Somalia, from the al-Qaeda allied, militant Islamist group al-Shabaab on Oct. 6. The city was the last major port controlled by al-Shabaab, which used it as a center for importing and exporting, keeping the group funded and armed.
Somali and AU troops have retaken seven al-Shabaab controlled cities since launching new operations on Sept. 1. Al-Shabaab’s leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed by a US drone strike in August.